For people who ship software
Busy is not throughput.
A course in Goldratt’s ideas, written for engineering teams. Seven short topics. Each one has something you move — a queue, a buffer, a metric, a conflict — until the idea is yours, not a paragraph you skimmed.
Free to read. No newsletter. An account is only there if you want your place on another device.
The dates
Every task was padded. The roadmap still slipped. The safety was in the wrong place.
The tool
The assistant writes more code. Review is the new queue. Throughput did not move.
The number
Velocity, utilisation, coverage. Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave.
You don’t finish a topic by scrolling.
01
One argument
A section you can finish in a sitting. The constraint, then the next fight.
02
One thing to move
A lab. Change the rule and the number changes. That is the lesson.
03
Your place
Chapters, the checklist, the questions. In this browser, or on the account.
The set
Seven books. One system.
Flow is the constraint. The rest is what you do when the dates, the numbers, the tools, the inventory, or the argument will not move.
- 01FlowThe GoalThe constraint, the three measures, Herbie, the five focusing steps, and drum-buffer-rope.0/8
- 02ThinkingIt’s Not LuckConflicts after the pipeline moves. Evaporating clouds, reality trees, and injections that are not compromises.0/6
- 03Critical ChainCritical ChainWhy roadmaps slip. Aggressive estimates, project buffers, and a fever chart instead of chasing every task date.0/6
- 04HaystackThe Haystack SyndromeDashboards full of data and short of answers. Throughput Accounting as a filter for hires, tools and metrics.0/6
- 05NecessaryNecessary But Not SufficientAI tools, CI, and platforms. Throughput moves only when the process and the measures move with the technology.0/6
- 06ObviousIsn’t It Obvious?Stop pushing work on a forecast. Pull when the next stage can take it, and hold shared things once.0/6
- 07ChoiceThe ChoiceThe beliefs under the tools. A few causes, a soft assumption, and the person responding to the system.0/6
Start at the constraint.
The first topic is the pipeline, Herbie, and the five focusing steps. The other six assume you have been there.